On Tuesday afternoon, the Trump administration advised colleges to abandon affirmative action-style policies in their admissions process and adopt a "race-neutral" view toward applicants. It's a reversal of several Obama-era directives that, in an attempt to increase diversity in higher education, encouraged colleges to consider prospective students' race. Trump's directive is non-binding, as was the previous directive that it reverses.

"When issuing regulations, federal agencies must abide by constitutional principles and follow the rules set forth by Congress and the President," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the reversal. "In previous administrations, however, agencies often tried to impose new rules on the American people without any public notice or comment period, simply by sending a letter or posting a guidance document on a website. That's wrong, and it's not good government."

Justice Department spokesperson Devin O'Malley told the New York Times that in November, Sessions ordered a review of past policies that, in Sessions' eyes, encouraged the department to overstep its legal bounds with regard to affirmative action. As a result, President Trump is now withdrawing seven policy guidances from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

“The executive branch cannot circumvent Congress or the courts by creating guidance that goes beyond the law and — in some instances — stays on the books for decades,” O’Malley told the Times.

The administration argues that the Obama directives, which were issued in 2011 and 2016, misrepresented how easy it is for schools to implement affirmative action policies that fall within the limits the Supreme Court has placed on the policy. In 1978, the court affirmed the constitutionality of affirmative action but ruled that racial quotas are illegal. It has upheld this ruling several times since.

Anurima Bargava, who led civil rights enforcement in schools in Obama’s Justice Department, disputed the Trump administration's characterization. Bargava told the Times that Obama's directives simply explained how colleges could legally implement affirmative action policies if they so desired.

“The law on this hasn’t changed, and the Supreme Court has twice ruled reaffirming the importance of diversity,” Bargava said. “This is a purely political attack that benefits nobody.”

Some suspect that true goal of the SFFA's lawsuit is to convince the Supreme Court to take another look at — and ultimately eliminate — race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court has often reviewed affirmative action policies in college admissions, but has not outright prohibited colleges from considering race in the admissions process. However, this may change once Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has voted to uphold affirmative action, retires from the court later in July.

But Kennedy is retiring at the end of the month, and Trump will almost certainly replace him with a more conservative justice. Should SFFA's lawsuit advance to the Supreme Court after that Kennedy's replacement is confirmed, the policy could face a more hostile court than it has in years.